If you set up Paddle more than a couple of years ago, there's a good chance you're still running on Paddle Classic - and you've probably seen Paddle pushing merchants toward Paddle Billing, its rewritten product. The two are similar enough to cause confusion and different enough that migrating isn't a simple flag flip. This post covers what actually changed.
A note on timing: Paddle has been actively migrating merchants off Classic, and the specifics of deadlines and forced-migration timelines change - check Paddle's own documentation for the current cutoff before planning a migration around a date mentioned anywhere else, including this post.
What Is Paddle Classic?
Paddle Classic is Paddle's original merchant-of-record billing product - the version most SaaS businesses that set up Paddle before its major platform rewrite are still running. It uses Paddle's original checkout overlay, subscription model, and webhook event structure.
What Is Paddle Billing?
Paddle Billing is Paddle's current product - a full rebuild of the subscription engine, checkout, and API, designed to be more flexible and to align more closely with modern billing patterns (closer to how Stripe structures products, prices, and subscriptions) while keeping Paddle's core merchant-of-record model - Paddle remains legally responsible for tax collection and remittance in both versions.
Paddle Classic vs Paddle Billing: Key Differences
| Paddle Classic | Paddle Billing | |
|---|---|---|
| Product/pricing model | Products and plans, less flexible pricing structures | Products and prices, closer to Stripe's model - supports more flexible pricing (tiered, usage-based) |
| Checkout | Original overlay checkout | Redesigned overlay checkout with more customization |
| API structure | Legacy REST API | Modern REST API with a different event and object model |
| Webhooks | Classic webhook event names and payloads | Restructured webhook events - not a drop-in replacement |
| Subscription changes | More limited proration and plan-change handling | More flexible upgrade/downgrade and proration handling |
| Reporting dashboard | Paddle Classic's original dashboard | Updated dashboard, closer to Paddle's current design language |
| Tax/compliance (merchant of record) | Included | Included - this core value proposition is unchanged |
The tax and compliance handling - Paddle's core pitch as a merchant of record - is the same in both. What changed is almost everything underneath it: the data model, the API, the checkout, and how subscription changes are represented.
Why This Isn't a Simple Migration
Webhooks aren't backward compatible. If your backend listens for Paddle Classic webhook events, those event names and payloads don't map one-to-one onto Paddle Billing's webhook structure. Any code that reacts to subscription or payment events needs to be rewritten against the new event model, not just repointed at a new URL.
The product/pricing model is different. Paddle Billing's product-and-price structure is more flexible but isn't a straight lift-and-shift from Classic's product-and-plan model. Existing Classic products and plans typically need to be recreated (or migrated via Paddle's tooling) in Billing's structure.
Subscription history and reporting can diverge. Analytics and reporting tools that read directly from Paddle's API need to account for the fact that a subscription's history before and after migration may be represented differently, depending on how the migration itself was performed.
What to Check Before Migrating
- Inventory every webhook consumer. Anything in your stack - your app, your analytics tool, your CRM - that listens for Paddle events needs to be checked against Paddle Billing's webhook structure specifically, not assumed to work unchanged.
- Recreate your product/pricing catalog in Billing's model, rather than assuming a direct import will preserve every nuance of your Classic setup.
- Confirm your analytics and reporting tools support Paddle Billing specifically. A tool that only integrates with Classic's API won't automatically pick up Billing data without an update on the tool's side.
- Plan for a transition period where both may coexist, especially if you have long-running annual subscriptions that started under Classic and won't naturally cycle onto Billing immediately.
- Check Paddle's current migration deadline directly with Paddle, since forced-migration timelines have shifted and the authoritative answer is Paddle's own documentation, not a fixed date.
Where Chartsy Fits
Chartsy connects to both Paddle Classic and Paddle Billing - including businesses running both simultaneously during a migration window - and normalizes them into one consistent MRR, churn, and revenue view, so a mid-migration transition doesn't create a reporting gap or a confusing jump in your dashboard the moment you switch.
Connect your Paddle account (Classic or Billing) →
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Paddle Classic being shut down? Paddle has been actively moving merchants toward Paddle Billing and has communicated migration timelines directly to Classic merchants. Because the exact cutoff has been subject to change, check Paddle's own current documentation or your Paddle dashboard notifications for the up-to-date deadline rather than relying on a fixed date from a third-party source.
Do I need to rebuild my webhook integrations to migrate? Yes, in most cases. Paddle Billing's webhook events and payloads are structured differently from Paddle Classic's, so webhook consumers typically need to be updated to handle the new event model rather than simply repointed at a new endpoint.
Will my subscription history transfer to Paddle Billing? This depends on how the migration is performed and should be confirmed directly with Paddle's migration tooling and documentation for your specific account, since the mechanics can vary based on your existing Classic setup.
Does Paddle Billing still act as merchant of record? Yes - the core merchant-of-record model, including tax collection and remittance responsibility, is unchanged between Classic and Billing. What changed is the underlying API, checkout, and data model, not this core value proposition.
Can an analytics tool track both Paddle Classic and Paddle Billing at once? It depends on the tool - some only support one or the other. Chartsy supports both Paddle Classic and Paddle Billing, including accounts running both simultaneously during a migration period.
Related: Stripe vs Paddle: Which Payment Processor Is Right for Your SaaS? · How to Combine Stripe and Paddle Data Into One Dashboard · 10 Questions Your Paddle Dashboard Can't Answer About Retention
Written by
Chartsy TeamThe Chartsy Team writes guides, product updates, and resources to help SaaS and eCommerce founders make sense of their metrics, without SQL or spreadsheets.
Chartsy